A generator. Clinical examination tables. A home. An entire medical practice.
These are among the donations made by family physicians to family physicians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. AAFP members from across the country have sent an outpouring of donations, hands-on help, and offers of long-term assistance to their peers in hurricane-stricken Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
In all, the generosity of family physicians and others has generated record-setting donations of $122,091 to the AAFP Foundation's Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. Family physicians can stipulate what proportions of their donations should go to the effort's General Relief Fund or to the Physicians Assistance Fund. General relief contributions will be channeled through the American Red Cross, and the Physicians Assistance Fund will be channeled through state constituent chapter foundations.
Sharing Medical Expertise
In addition, hundreds of family physicians have volunteered to provide medical care to hurricane victims, according to Sonora Thigpen, executive director of the Louisiana AFP. Chapters in the affected states coordinated with their states' emergency and health officials to ensure that volunteer physicians were sent to areas with the greatest need.
"We have been inundated with responses," said Thigpen. By Sept. 8, Louisiana AFP had received some 500 offers from volunteer FPs. "They keep coming in daily at a rate of about 50 additional volunteers per day."
Beth Embry, executive director of the Mississippi AFP, agreed.
"The Mississippi Academy is so grateful for all the faxes, calls and e-mails we have received," she said. "Our staff and board members are touched by the generous offers and uplifting notes. It makes each day a little easier to handle."
Initially, physician volunteers were funneled through constituent chapters, as reported in an earlier AAFP News Now story. By Sept. 8, however, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had told the Mississippi AFP to direct physicians to a national Web page. The page lists types of personnel needed, information on expectations for those who volunteer and a volunteer submission form.
A Helping Hand for Colleagues
Moreover, Academy members from across the country are remembering the needs of the more than 375 family physicians -- 250 in Louisiana, more than 100 in Mississippi and more than 75 in Alabama -- who live and practice in the hurricane-devastated areas. FPs in Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee have contacted AAFP with offers of equipment and living quarters.
"We have five or so volunteers willing to share their homes with a displaced doctor," said Louisiana's Thigpen. "However, we haven't received any such requests from members."
To date, only a few family physicians have submitted requests for help.
"Most of the affected physicians are probably finding it difficult to communicate using their cell phones," said Thigpen. "And they are displaced from their homes as well as their practices."
